Horseback Riding with Grandpa

A few weeks ago the kids were lucky enough to go riding horses with Grandpa Barainca. The kids were BEAMING with excitement to finally get out and ride his horse. We were just glad his horse is so close by us so we could actually go. Thank you Grandpa for taking time out to share your horse with the kids.

Conner, Kierra and Olivia having fun with the horse.

Jacob being brave riding the horse with Daddy.

These adorable kids! Seriously, there is something cute about taking a picture out on a farm.

Another one of Jake because he's so cute!

Random happenings...

This adorable little guy loves to help me cook. I was baking breadsticks and he thought he was helping. Seriously, I can't get enough of him. He really makes our life more fun and more entertaining.
Caleb LOVES to swim. At least once a day he tries to ask if he can wear is "suit" and go to Shanny's pool.
Oh, and here is a short entry on the fact that my life forever has officially changed. And it's not the fact that I'm a pregnant person again. It's that my dearest friend Emily has moved away from, well yes me personally. She moved far away to Kaysville. But we have made the trip several times already because it's "only 40 minutes" - many things take longer than what it takes to drive there (That's what I keep telling myself). If your wondering if my heart is broken, yes it is. She has influenced my life beyond any description I could type here on my blog. But I don't expect that to change, just because of distance. We speak often and we will continue to see each other often. I will miss you forever, but I am excited for you and your family for this new adventure. Not to mention the new world of paint and color that is currently changing my home for the better! I love you dearly!!
This is how our summer has been going...requiring nap time for ALL children. A little too much sun and too much FUN.
Just showing the fact that running a household is a two person job. I've heard rumor that once you have four kids laundry is too much to stay on top of...I dare say that three kids has done this too me. I DON'T even want to start thinking about how much more I will despise laundry. A BIG thanks goes to Jared (who is currently vacuuming our stairs and house as I sit here and blog) that helps me SO much around here and stay up on all the necessary house chores so that the kids and I can play more and have fun this summer.

Big Accomplishment...

So here's to the newest Kindergarten Graduate.

Let's hear it for Alayna! She can read, write and sing. She has had a great year of learning and going to school. Honestly, I can't believe it's been an entire year of school. It really has passed so quickly. It shocking to think that she's on to full-time all day long school in just a couple of weeks. That kinda scares me a little bit that she will spend more time at school than here at home with me.

Here cousin Kennady cheering her on and Jake.

Oh, and the proud parents!

Time is passing by...

Well, I think I officially, until after girls camp have turned into someone who does not blog or really have time to do so. It's amazing how intense this calling is, physically and mentally. Late at night I am reminded I forgot to buy paper towels, and silly things like that that I'm sure are very important!! :) Either way, there has been TONS of activities going on as well and it's simply not fair to my fellow readers for not being able to stay updated on what is going on. So in no random order or of importance you will learn really quickly why we have been so swamped each day!The annual Herriman Parade...except here is Jared's RPT truck/float. Oh, I guess I should also mention that Jared was recently promoted to the Director Position at the Riverton office. So with much applause and much congratulations we are SO proud of him and how hard he works for our family. He's the man in charge, so inevitability that means more stress. But if anyone can juggle more BIG things in the air it would be him. He does it so well and we feel so blessed to have so many blessings at once.
Olivia was baptized a few Saturday's ago. She was so darling and asked me to speak at her baptism. Let's just say I was a wreck. I cried the whole time, but it was a great experience to focus on how grateful I am for the Holy Ghost and my membership in the church.
Alayna is SO excited because she is the next grandchild to be baptized. I think if she had her way we'd have a sticker countdown chart till her special day!
The proud grandparents. My mom said, days like this are her pay days. They great reward of seeing her posterity making good choices. It really was a beautiful day!

Swimming Fun!

Here's to the newest water fun additions in our yard. Jared's Grandparents give the kids some money for their birthdays to buy something FUN for them, so we decided to get a littler larger pool for the kids this year!

The kids were in heaven soaking in the sun and playing with all their FUN water toys from Brian and Ashley! (thank you again they are darling!!)

Bring on the SUN during summer time!

Here is Caleb saying, "It's COLD Mom!"

St. George Vacation

We were so lucky to spend the last week in St. George. I say, lucky because the weather there was moderate, but we heard that the weather back home was AWFUL! So if you know me at all you know that I really LOVE the SUN. So anytime I miss a snow storm or grey clouds and I have sunshine instead it's a good day! Thanks to Ashley and Brian they outfitted our kids with the BEST pool toys this year! All the cousins had SO much more fun because we actually had toys to play with this trip in the pool. It was so fun!

This swimming experience was SO fun. Alayna learned to swim across the pool. And so did Jake! Honestly is was so adorable to watch them learn new skills and have fun while doing it! My dad dared them $1 to swim out to him, and they both did it! Way to go kids!

Here is how Jared spent his vacation...reading book after book. I think he needed some much needed mental get away from real life to his intense (24 like) books. Let's just say in 5 days he finished two and a half books! I think he was internally happy that he took a pretty good spill on his mountain bike the 3rd day in because his arm was torn all up and open wounds, that he elected to sit by the pool and read instead of swim the last few days! Either way I was so happy to have him on an entire vacation (with the kids!) Let's just say when he's around to help it actually feels like a break or a vacation!

Alayna showing off her new swimming suit we picked up at the outlet stores!

A few Birthday Pictures

Alayna

Jacob

Caleb

We love to party!

The Cars cake!

Blowing out the candles!

The Birthday Boy!

His new bike! You got it! We are trying to get him to ride his two-wheeler with out training wheels! He's doing well, but needs more practice!

This snorkel gear has been his BEST present yet. Thanks to Grandpa Randy, he took him out for his little birthday shopping trip and this is what Jake picked. Honestly, this couldn't have been a more wanted item!

Here are our "4" year old boys!

Jake picked to have a "Cars" cake. So with much creativity on Shan's part we ended up with the best looking Radiator Springs Cars cake. Even though it wasn't a cake, we decided to do a sheet of brownies because they are so much easier to frost than cake. Either way these boys were TOTALLY pleased! Happy Birthday Jake and Isaac! We love you two!

It's my birthday!

It's my birthday and I can smile if I want to...smile if I want to!
Seriously, how has 4 years of his life passed already! All I can say is we LOVE this kid being in our family, we are truly blessed to have him! We love you Jakey!!

Happy Mothers Day

Does it really get any better than having three little monkies on this day? I think not! How grateful I am for them. I am realizing more and more how truly grateful for this amazing journey! I wouldn't trade it for anything!

Hip Hip Hooray!

Do you know what this smile is for? Well, it's been a two week long period of practicing how to ride a two-wheeler bike! Because today she said to me, "Mom, today is the day...I think I've got it figured out!"
Caleb cheering his big sister on..."Go Alayna!"

Off she goes! We have spent every day practicing. We have a family trip planned in the next few weeks and I wanted her to be able to bring her bike and ride with her cousins! We figured this summer we better take this seriously. So with her getting more and more brave and comfortable on the bike she has figured it out! This has been a BIG milestone week for her because not only has she mastered how to ride a bike she also learned how to tie her own shoes! Oh, my little kindergartner is growing up. I think it might be time for her to move on to 1st grade!

As we were out admiring how well Alayna was riding her bike Caleb was pointing out to me all our flowers. So I decided to take a few pictures to actually document COLOR is happening all around our yard!

A Day in the Life of an Ant...

What is it with little boys and ants...not really sure because I personally don't care for them. But little boys must!

All the boys around gathered together in this darling circle to watch the ants...and watch them...and watch them...until big mean scary mom said, "I'm getting the poison to kill them." Jake immediately put up his hand to tell me, "NO don't kill them...because I will drowned them with water, they'd like it better!"

So apparently I have learned Jacob's more preferred method of killing bugs. Let' them suffer and drowned.

Alayna decided to befriend some ants after Jake poured water all over his pile. She decided to let them crawl on her hands...until she couldn't shake them off! It turned out pretty funny. Really, I'm okay with ants out in dirt fields, but I don't like them close to my garage...I told the kids it's because they ate their Popsicles too close to my house. Next time they better eat those Popsicles on the grass. Honestly, these kids are so dang fun to have around. We really have lucked out having so many cousins and little friends live around us that bring all their bikes over for "parades" nearly everyday. Oh, maybe life is wonderful because the SUN has been shining for at least 4 days in a row...This is the time of year I truly love...